Tupolev Flies Modernized ‘Blackjack’ | Aviation International News

Tupolev Flies Modernized ‘Blackjack’

The nature of the upgrade to the Tu-160M has not been detailed, but the type is once again making its presence felt in the ongoing Russia-U.S. standoff.

A poor-quality image shows the modernized Tu-160M returning to Kazan at the end of its first flight on February 2. (photo: United Aircraft Corporation)

By Vladimir Karnozov

February 6, 2020

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has issued a statement about the maiden flight of what it calls “the first experimental example of a deeply modernized Tu-160M created on the platform of the in-service Tu-160” strategic bomber (NATO codename “Blackjack”). The flight occurred on February 2 from the airport of the Kazan Aviation Plant named after Gorbunov (local acronym KAZ, formerly Kazan Aviation Industrial Organization or KAPO) and lasted for 34 minutes. KAZ is a part of Tupolev, itself a UAC member. Headed by Anri Naskidyants, the crew from Tupolev’s flight test-base in Zhukovsky reported that the aircraft attained a maximum altitude of 1,500 meters (4,920 feet) and behaved well.

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Tupolev Tu-160M

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